Red flowers on a pink jacket do not soften Karoline Leavitt’s determination to speak with an unburdened mind; they enhanced her comedic flair

Setting aside the tumbleweeds that represent her thoughts, Karoline Leavitt has developed a sudden fixation on flora. At the White House briefing yesterday, she wore a bandung pink floral top that looked like it was cut from a blanket mostly seen at void-deck wakes. It was a zip-up, cotton top worn as a jacket, over a black inner and a pair of just-as-sooty slacks, a combination that an auntie of a certain age might wear to the outing at the wholesale centre with the members of a senior citizen corner. The optimistic number that begged the rejoinder “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking” looked to be from a label that is currently thrilling a certain group of the Washington political elite: Tuckernuck. Originally a small boutique in Georgetown, Northwest Washington, D.C., the brand has been enthusiastically conscripted into the MAGA wardrobe, favored by women who prefer their fashion with a generous side of conservative fervour. And no one serves as a more tireless monument to the aesthetic than Karoline Leavitt in her “Cerise Bloom” jacket, now available for the “final sale” price of US$112.

To be sure, this was not the first time Ms Leavitt dressed as if for a garden party at Mar-a-Lago. Last November, also for a press briefing, she wore what appeared to be Alice + Olivia’s ‘Antonette’ mini-dress with a print of fall flowers against a black background that could be for an evening soiree next to late-blooming hydrangeas. It was not power behind the podium. But that was not the bugbear. Both the floral garments from then and now were from American brands that manufacture their merchandise outside of the U.S.—China or Southeast Asia. Tuckernuck and Alice + Olivia operate a global supply chain, without a Made-in-U.S.A. commitment. The Tuckernuck website does not state where their garments are produced, but resale platforms such as eBay confirm that the specific top that Ms Leavitt wore with such aplomb is “made in China”. As she represents an administration that has made aggressive China tariffs a cornerstone of its policy, her ‘Cerise Blossom’ jacket and other brands she favour—such as Self-Portrait, which is also manufactured in China—exposed a disconnect between strident political voice and add-to-cart habit.

To be sure, this was not the first time Ms Leavitt dressed as if for a garden party at Mar-a-Lago

Ms Leavitt did not care. For a press secretary, the ‘Cerise Blossom’ jacket was less a garment than a broadcast. It signalled the traditional, feminine, and aspirational—all key pillars of Tuckernuck’s current identity and the MAGA misses’—long before anyone could get close enough to read its care label. Similarly, when Ms Leavitt operated her deflective retorts in the James S. Brady Press Room as an always-on leaf blower, nobody checked to see if there was actually any litterfall to clear, or if she was just exceptionally fond of the noise, even when totally grating—volume over verification has always been her preferred modus operandi. She did have the flair to overwhelm the space so that critique feels futile. That, and a penchant to keep her audience reacting to the noise of her own voice rather than scrutinising her speech. Honestly, how could one take a press secretary dressed in a gaudy floral jacket seriously as she made ridiculous proclamations, now armoured with blooms of cerise? We don’t.

When asked by a journalist to comment on Pope Leo’s assertion that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war”, Ms Leavitt replied, “I think our nation was a nation founded 250 years ago, almost, on Judeo-Christian values.” Instead of engaging with the theological or moral substance of the Pope’s comment (whether war is incompatible with prayer, or whether divine favour is withheld from aggressors), she reframed the discussion around America’s founding principles. Karoline Leavitt continued, pointing out that “we’ve seen our troops go to prayer during the most turbulent times in our nation’s history. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our military leaders or with the president calling on the American people to pray for our service members and those who are serving our country overseas.” The asinine response deftly re‑cast the question into a familiar MAGA script: to Christian America, prayer is noble, and the military deserves support. That lens was meant to crowd out alternative moral frameworks. The irony is that Pope Leo’s statement is itself a Christian one, but because it challenges the sanctification of war, it doesn’t fit the MAGA narrative. One almost stood up to applaud the fortitude of the foolhardy—in ‘Cerise Blossom’, of course.

Screen shot: the Whitehouse/YouTube